Radio station in Gilbert, Arizona, United States
For the Phoenix, Arizona radio station that held the call sign KZON at 101.5 FM from 1992 to 2016, see
KALV-FM
.
KZON
(103.9
FM
) is a
commercial
radio station
licensed
to
Gilbert, Arizona
, and broadcasting to the
Phoenix metropolitan area
. It
simulcasts
an
adult contemporary
radio format
with co-owned
KMVA
97.5 FM
Dewey-Humboldt, Arizona
, as "Hot 97.5/103.9." The stations are owned by the Riviera Broadcast Group with
studios
on 7th Street in
Midtown Phoenix
.
KZON is a
Class C
station. It has an
effective radiated power
(ERP) of 100,000
watts
, the maximum for most FM stations.
[1]
The
transmitter
is on East Ocotillo Road at North Schnepf Road in
San Tan Valley, Arizona
.
[2]
KZON is also heard on two
FM translators
: 94.9 MHz in
Chandler
and 96.1 MHz in
Fort McDowell
.
History
[
edit
]
Country (1981?1993)
[
edit
]
The station
signed on
the air on February 25, 1981
; 43 years ago
(
February 25, 1981
)
. Its original
call sign
was
KQEZ
. It called itself "
Easy Country
103" and its
city of license
was
Coolidge, Arizona
.
[3]
[4]
It was powered at only 3,000
watts
, a fraction of its current output, so the station primarily focused on the
Casa Grande Valley
.
In 1991, original owner Larry E. Salsburey sold the station to Scott Christianson's Chriscom. KQEZ, however, fell on financial hard times in the early 1990s. In September 1992, KQEZ's disc jockeys informed listeners that they had not been paid in a month; at that time, owner Christianson said he could not pay workers because of $200,000 in debt. In April 1993, the station went off the air altogether.
[5]
Classic rock (1993?1995)
[
edit
]
Two months later, the station was sold to J.M. Wolz, the first of three license transfers in a year. Wolz put the station back on the air with a
classic rock
format as
KAZR
. A signal upgrade followed providing the southern sections of the Phoenix area with a clear signal.
Rock/top 40 hybrid (1995?1996)
[
edit
]
On March 20, 1995,
[6]
the format was flipped to a
modern rock
/
top 40
hybrid branded as “The Blaze.” A change of call letters to
KBZR
followed the change of format.
Rhythmic oldies (1996)
[
edit
]
In the spring of 1996, the station began moving its transmitter closer to Phoenix. At the same time, the station began a 6-month
stunt
of an
automated
Rhythmic Oldies
format, only going by the moniker "S.T.E.V.E." The name was an acronym standing for "Songs That Everyone Vociferously Enjoys."
Hip-hop (1996?2001)
[
edit
]
On October 30, 1996, at 3:30 p.m., the station completed its upgrade, and the station once again began stunting, this time with people chanting "Party! Party! Party!" for several hours which ended with a sound of a record scratching and a male announcer saying "Arizona's Party Station" in reverse, which led to its new name and slogan, and the station flipped to a
hip hop
-emphasizing
rhythmic top 40
format as "103.9, Arizona's Party Station". The call letters were changed in the spring of 1997 to
KPTY
to reflect the station branding. Despite the station's signal limitations, KPTY did well in the ratings. In fact, rival
KKFR
, which was airing a broad-based
Mainstream Top 40
format at the time, began to move towards hip hop-emphasizing rhythmic top 40 format as well, and took away much of KPTY's audience.
In 1998, KPTY evolved to a hybrid hip-hop/
modern rock
format shortly followed by a change of branding to "Party Radio @ 103.9." During the last week of 1999, KPTY stunted with a supposed broadcast hijacking with buzzing sounds and audio glitches in the songs, legal IDs and sweepers, while the
DJs
were talking. On December 31, 1999, KPTY began stunting with a 24-hour loop of "
We Like To Party
" by
The Vengaboys
. On January 1, 2000, KPTY returned to a rhythmic top 40 format (this time with more of a dance lean) as "103.9 The Party".
Alternative (2001?2012)
[
edit
]
In October 2001, the station's owners were persuaded by the staff of the
original KEDJ
"The Edge" on 106.3 FM and 100.3 FM to drop the
Rhythmic Top 40
format and bring the
KEDJ
call letters and its
alternative rock
format over to 103.9 FM. KPTY flipped to "The Edge" exactly 5 years after the station began: October 30, 2001 at Noon. The 106.3 and 100.3 frequencies originally used by "The Edge" were sold to Hispanic Broadcasting Corporation (now
Univision
Radio) and switched to a
Regional Mexican
format.
In April 2008, the morning show "The Morning Ritual" was dropped in place of the
syndicated
Adam Carolla Show
from
Los Angeles
. The Adam Carolla Show was cancelled on February 20, 2009, due to Carolla's
flagship station
KLSX
flipping formats. It was quickly replaced by another Los Angeles?based morning show,
Kevin and Bean
.
In July 2009, the station relaunched as "FM/1039...Where Music Matters." FM/1039 Launched under then-Program Director Tim Virgin. That same month, Virgin left to do Afternoons at
Q101
in
Chicago
. Former program director Marc Young returned to the station and took over afternoon duties as well.
On January 8, 2010, the "FM 103/9" branding was changed to "X 103-9...Alternative Rock Now." On February 2, 2010, under the direction of Program Director Marc Young, the station's call letters were changed from KEDJ to
KEXX
to align with the "X 103.9" branding.
Classic rock (2012)
[
edit
]
On January 12,
2012
at 6AM, the station shifted its alternative rock format for a hybrid mix that included
classic rock
artists, rebranding under the name "My 103.9." "
Personal Jesus
" by
Depeche Mode
was the last song under their
alternative rock
format; the first song under the readjusted format was "
It's My Life
" by
Talk Talk
.
Hot adult contemporary (2012?2022)
[
edit
]
As of June 2012, the station shifted to a
Hot AC
format, still under the name "My 103.9."
On December 27, 2013, Trumper Communications and Riviera Broadcasting Group announced that they would merge their Adult Top 40 outlets into one simulcast, with
KMVA
and KEXX becoming "Hot 97.5/103.9 Trending Radio." The combined signals made their launch at midnight on January 1; the last song as "My" was "
This Love
" by
Maroon 5
, and the first song under the "Hot" simulcast was "
Blow Me (One Last Kiss)
" by
P!nk
.
On April 9, 2015, its HD2 digital subchannel became the high definition simulcast of
KOAI
in
Sun City West
.
On June 20, 2016, KEXX changed its call letters to
KZON
, taking over the call sign from 101.5 FM which changed their callsign to
KALV-FM
earlier that month.
Rhythmic hot adult contemporary (2022-2024)
[
edit
]
On June 17, 2022, at noon, KZON and KMVA shifted to rhythmic hot AC, keeping the "Hot" branding and adopting the "Rhythm of the Valley" positioner, with the first song being "
Hot in Herre
" by
Nelly
.
[7]
Adult contemporary (2024-present)
[
edit
]
On April 23, 2024, KMVA and KZON shifted to mainstream adult contemporary, still keeping the "Hot" branding and positioning itself as "The Valley's Best Variety".
Previous logo
[
edit
]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
FCC.gov/KZON
- ^
Radio-Locator.com/KZON
- ^
Broadcasting Yearbook 1982
page C-11
- ^
Wilkinson, Bud (February 25, 1981).
"KUPD fires program director and brings in radio consultant"
.
Arizona Republic
. Retrieved
May 14,
2019
.
- ^
Newberg, Julie (April 17, 1993).
"DJ too obnoxious? Fire back at station in a number of ways"
.
Arizona Republic
. Retrieved
May 14,
2019
.
- ^
Newberg, Julie (March 13, 1995).
"Shock jock Stern has Valley deejays talking"
.
Arizona Republic
. Retrieved
May 14,
2019
.
- ^
Hot 97.5/103.9 Phoenix Relaunches as the Rhythm of the Valley
Radioinsight - June 17, 2022
External links
[
edit
]
33°14′49″N
111°31′52″W
/
33.247°N 111.531°W
/
33.247; -111.531